I do not Know Politics

I do not know American politics. I do not know politics. I only know that American people kill innocent people outside USA. Did the author intend to say that he respected the killing?

Hate groups and respecting the presidency
March 15, 2012 — 3:27pm ET | By David Perera

I lived in Europe for a couple years during the George W. Bush administration, and frequently encountered people who knew little about American politics, other than they hated George W. Bush.

This is what I told them: I respect the office of the presidency. And it's true--that's what a democracy is supposed to be about. You will not always agree with the outcome of an election, but once the people have spoken at the ballot box, all of us must accept the result. To insist otherwise is to wish you didn't live in a democracy, but in a dictatorship that aligns with your beliefs.

I mention this because over the course of the past two decades, there's been a trend in both the left- and right-wings of American politics to deny the legitimacy of the president. During the current administration, this has taken a particularly ugly turn among a minority of Americans who have sought to characterize Barack Obama as a Kenyan, a secret Muslim, etc.

Unfortunately, some mainstream politicians have not been above stoking such rhetoric in subtle ways. But such dog whistles to the far right are not without cost. The Southern Poverty Law Center has recently noted that Patriot-, militia- and hate-groups have all substantially increased in number starting in 2009.

Some members of these groups, or individuals who don't join groups but believe in similar rhetoric as these groups, have caused an uptick in shooting deaths of police officers and undertaken attempted acts of domestic terrorism.

The prospect for these groups' popularity during 2012 will in large measure be affected by the tone of the presidential election, says the center.

"If the primaries generate more attacks on the nation's first black president based on complete falsehoods--that he is a secret Muslim, a Kenyan, a radical leftist bent on destroying America--it's likely that the poison will spread," it warns.

Mainstream politicians are not responsible for the rise of hate-filled groups who question the legitimacy of the president (and by extension, the federal government), of course. But in validating in even the smallest fashion the notion that Obama is other than who he is, they are at least complicit. If they truly love their country the way they say they do, they will meet such claims with a simple sentence: I respect the office of the presidency. - Dave

http://www.fiercehomelandsecurity.com/story/hate-groups-and-respecting-presidency/2012-03-15

Big Rewards for Lost Photos

I have a couple of questions on the below story

1. Why did he put his personal laptop in the boot of the taxi?
2. If the photos are so important to him, why didn't he create backup? Did he make any backup of any other important files?
3. Did he send copies of the photos to his fiancee and if not, why?

Thursday, March 15, 2012

A picture is worth a thousand words - maybe even HK$100,000.

An Indian businessman is offering that amount to anyone who finds his Sony laptop, which contains pictures of him and his glamorous fiancee.

Anshoo Sethi, who heads an American real estate company, says he left a black suitcase that contains his laptop in the boot of a cab he rode from the W Hong Kong hotel in West Kowloon to Mody Road on March 5.

Sethi and fiancee Sheekha, a doctor, have known each other for more than a decade though they only got engaged a year and a half ago after dating for about four years.

Their pictures together were taken over the past six months and are "very close to my heart." And just to have them back, he's even willing to raise the reward.